"The industry must focus on boosting customer welfare, rather than boosting profits at the expense of hard-pressed householders who struggle to pay back unaffordable loans.”

Footballer Papiss Cisse of Newcastle United initially refused to wear club sponsor Wonga’s logo in protest but called a truce in July.

And even the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby stepped in to the fray by saying he wanted the Church of England to “compete” the online lender out of existence by backing credit unions.

However, Wonga insists most of its customers are not struggling but just want an alternative to banks.

Its data showed 56% of borrowers are single, more than a third are young and nearly eight out of 10 have smartphones, with many using them to get loans quickly.

The firm says its average loan is £150 to £160, borrowed over 15 days. Wonga said it earns an average £15 per loan, with charges frozen after 60 days.

Mr Damelin added: “Our customers are the digital generation, people who wouldn’t contemplate waiting three weeks for a bank loan and wouldn’t contemplate waiting weeks for a book to arrive. They grew up with Amazon.

“Very few are on benefits. They come to Wonga to avoid ­overdraft fees and credit card charges. This is not about people on the ­breadline.”

Mr Damelin insisted it was not in the company’s interest to take on risky customers and rejected two thirds of applicants.

He said he was “happy” for the church and its credit unions to take on customers it rejected.

Nevertheless, Wonga still kissed goodbye to £88million of loans last year, nearly double the 2011 total.

The entire payday loans industry, worth about £2billion, was referred to the Competition Commission for investigation after the Office of Fair Trading found “deep” problems.

The OFT continues to suspect that features of the market “prevent, restrict or distort competition”.

Wonga facts

:: The payday lender was founded in 2006 by Errol Damelin and Jonty Hurwitz to provide short-term, unsecured loans to consumers. It offered its first loan in 2007 and has gone on to make more than seven million loans.

:: The privately-owned online lender took its cue from other rapidly-growing internet businesses, such as Facebook, Google and Netflix, to target internet-savvy customers who need fast money and are prepared to pay high interest rates for the privilege.

:: Wonga allows people to borrow up to £1,000, with complex computer programmes weighing up the risk of a default, allowing the firm to make an automated lending decision within 15 minutes.

:: Wonga sponsors Newcastle United FC, Blackpool FC and Heart of Midlothian FC, although its sponsorship of Newcastle has proved controversial with striker Papiss Cisse initially refusing to wear the logo due to his Muslim faith.

:: Based in London, Wonga employs more than 500 staff - including over 100 software engineers and data analysts - and has operations in the UK, Canada, South Africa, Poland and Spain.

:: Wonga makes a net profit of around £15 for every loan - equivalent to about 5p in every £1 lent. It rejects two-thirds of applicants.

:: Wonga says its customers are typically young, single, employed and digitally-savvy urban dwellers. Almost 80% of its customers own a smartphone, 77% regularly check Facebook, and all have a bank account.

: Wonga has expanded into small business lending, offering loans of up to £30,000, repayable over a year. Wonga has also entered the online retail payments market with PayLater, which allows shoppers to roll up payments for large items into one fee.